My first tangible creation of 2012

Okay. There was a lot going on yesterday, as well. We spent most of the day with my dad and stepmom, as a Christmas/New Year/birthday celebration. (some disclosure: my birthday is Dec. 31, as in new year's eve; so the new year/new beginning has an added meaning for me.) We had lunch, played some games, talked about new year's resolutions. I shared my plan with my stepmom, Cynthia; she told me about using three words to describe the year ahead. She had heard this on a (radio/tv, not sure which?) talk or news program, so we decided my three words would be "Create new things". Not everything I'm creating this year will be brand-new;

I have some projects already in process, that I will finish and count as new creations, and some of my projects will be re-purposing items, such as making an old sweater into a pillow cover.


My other three words for 2012, that tie in with this year-long project, are "Completing all projects". See, my goal for the year is making something every day; my resolution for the year is to finish a lot of my half-completed projects, to work on my ability to follow through, to stop procrastinating and putting projects aside.

That's where my blog fits in: I'm hoping that writing about what I'm doing will force me to finally find a use for all the raw materials I bring home. I'm not a hoarder, I'm actually really good at throwing things out - once or twice a year. But I do have a tendency to find fabrics, projects, pretty things that inspire me; I just don't make the effort to do something with these items once I get them home. Which means I had a pillow form just lying around, waiting to be covered.

And I had a beautiful chenille sweater that I don't wear anymore, but I wanted to keep for sentimental reasons. And now, I have a new little pillow!

The sweater belonged to one of my mom's best friends; she died of lung cancer in December of 1999. I wore the sweater for several years, but after I lost weight it didn't fit right.

I just couldn't bring myself to give it away. And now I'm glad I kept it. I'll probably use the sleeves and cowl neck for other projects this year.